Twisting apparatus

ABSTRACT

A twisting apparatus for use in multi-strand merchant bar and/or wire rod mills. The apparatus includes one twist roll mounted on a fixed housing and another twist roll mounted on a hood which is supported by and pivotally adjustable relative to the fixed housing, the said pivotal adjustment providing a means of varying the twist being imparted to the rolled strand passing between the two twist rolls.

United States Patent 1191 Balve June 18, 1974 [54] TWISTING APPARATUS 3,468,151 9/1969 Drolot 72/234 [75] Inventor: Karl-Heinz Balve,

Hllchenbach-Dahlbruch, Germany Primary Emml-ner Milton S Mehr [73] Assignee: Morgan Construction Company, Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Chittick, Thompson &

Worcester, Mass. Pfund [22] Filed: I Apr. 12, 1972 [2]] Appl. No.: 243,336

, 1 [57] ABSTRACT [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr. 17, 1971 Germany 2118725 A twisting apparatus for use in multi-strand merchant I bar and/or wire rod mills. The apparatus includes one [52] US. Cl 72/231, 72/25, 72/250 twist roll mounted on a fixed housing and another [51] Int. Cl B21b 41/08 twist roll mounted on a hood which is supported by Field Of Search and pivotally adjustable relative to the fixed housing, 5 5 the said pivotal adjustment providing a means of varying the twist being imparted to the rolled strand pass- [56] References C ted ing between the two twist rolls.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 10/1935 Geer 72/227 X 3 Claims, 5 Drawing; Figures PATENTEDJUM 1a 1914 q 817 072 snigraurzf 1 TWISTING APPARATUS DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a twisting apparatus for the first housings of multi-strand merchant bar and/or wir'e rod mills, in which each rolled strand is guided between two shaped twist rolls having an alternately shouldered external surface the position of which is variable relative to the rolling axis in order to produce the twisting effect on the rolled strand.

Different embodiments of twisting apparatus of this kind are known. For example, the prior art discloses twisting apparatus in which a separatetwisting unit is associated with each rolled strand. It is also known for a so-called twist housing to be disposed upstream of each roll housing, the twist rolls situated in such housing being provided with a number of shaped passes corresponding to the number of rolled strands.

Both kinds of twist apparatus suffer from substantial disadvantages the effects of which are felt in the operation of multi-strand merchant bar and wire rod mills.

Every effort is made to reduce the distance between roll passes in multi-strand merchant bar and wire rod mills in order to obtain a short roll length. The housing may then be constructed to a narrow width and in addition roll flexure is slight. Housings constructed in this way permit the production of rolled stock of relatively good dimensional accuracy.

Since the distance between roll passes on the roll depends on the structural width of the twisting apparatus, it follows that a relatively large distance between roll passes and therefore a long roll length is obtained when using known twisting apparatus in which a separate twisting unit is associated with each individual rolled strand. The greater roll flexure resulting therefrom does not permit narrow rolling tolerances to be maintained.

Short distances between roll passes and therefore short roll lengths with a slight roll flexure and therefore a high degree of dimensional accuracy of the rolled stock may beachieved if the known twist housings are used as twist apparatus. However, the disadvantage of using such twist housings is that any disturbance of the twisting operation in one rolled strand in most cases also affects all other rolled strands so that the entire merchant bar and/or wire rod mill must be shut down so that the defects may be remedied.

The present invention is based on known twisting apparatus with a separate twisting unit for each rolled strand and the purpose of the invention is to eliminate the disadvantages to which known kinds of twisting apparatus are subject and to combine the advantages which are characteristic of known kinds of twisting apparatus.

It is therefore the object of the invention to provide twisting apparatus for multi-strand merchant bar and- /or wire rod mills in which the twisting units associated with each individualrolled strand have a narrow structural width and may thus be employed in conjunction with roll pass housings having short rolls with roll passes disposed at a short distance from each other.

Another object of the present invention is to provide means for adjusting the lateral spacing between the twist rolls.

Due to the alternately shouldered external surfaces of the cooperating twist rolls and because of the simple adjusting motion of the twist rolls, the rolled strand is twisted about its longitudinal axis, thus achieving the desired twisting effect.

Since the twisting rolls are not pivoted about the iongitudinal axis of the rolled strands to be twisted, by contrast to known twisting apparatus, the overall width of the individual twisting units according to the present invention is only slightly greater than the working width of the twisting rolls. If a plurality of twisting units are disposed adjacently side by side the distance between adjacent roll passes in the grooved rolls will be reduced so that the rolls of short length resulting from such construction enable narrow and rigid housing structures to be employed for the production of dimensionally accurate rolled stock.

According to a further feature of the invention one twist roll is mounted for rotation about a fixed axis in one housing while the other twist roll is movably mounted so as to be slidable or pivotable in a direction transverse to its axis of rotation relative to the said housing.

According to the invention, the pivotable or slidable twist roll is supported in a hood which is mounted on the housing for the other twist roll.

A twisting'apparatus according to the invention and having a pivotably mounted twist roll is advantageously characterized in that the pivotal axis about which adjustments are made is offset along the rolled strand relative to the rotational axis of the twist roll which may be displaced about the aforementioned pivotal axis.

According to another feature of the invention it may be advantageous if the pivotal axis of the displaceable twist roll is disposed upstream of the twist roll axis as seen in the running direction of the rolled strand.

It is also within the scope of the invention for the hood, accommodating the pivotal twist roll, to be supported on the one hand by means of an easily detachable plug-in shaft on the housing of the other twist roll and on the other hand to be adapted for adjustment relative to the aforementioned housing by means of a screw spindle acting against the force exerted by a restoring spring.

Finally, itis a feature of the invention in twisting apparatus with a slidably guided twist roll that the hood is guided outside the twist roll circumference between two slide cheeks of the housing and may be adjustable, for example by means of a screw spindle disposed in the yoke of the housing.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is illustrated in the drawing in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a twisting unit according to the invention; A

FIG. 2 is a section along the line lI--II through the twisting unit according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an end view of the twisting unit of FIG. 1 as seen in the direction of the arrow Ill;

FIG. 4 is a section along the line IV-IV of FIG. 1,

grooved rolls and have a cylindrical circumferential part and a conical circumferential part adjoining thereon, the diameter of the said conical part increasing outwardly from the cylindrical circumferential part. To this end the two twisting rolls 1 and 2 are superjacently disposed so that the conical circumferential part of one twisting roll is disposed opposite to the cylindrical circumferential part of the other twisting roll. As may be seen by reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, a pass gap for the rolled strand 8 is thus formed between the two twisting rolls 1 and 2, the pass cross-section of said gap approximateing that of a rhombus.

A rolled strand entering into the gap between the two twisting rolls 1 and 2 and having a broad cross-section relative 'to its thickness, is twisted about its longitudinal axis by adjustment of the twisting roll 2 towards the twisting roll 1 as indicated in FIGS. 2 and 3, so that the desired twisting effect is produced.

The adjustment of the twisting roll 2 in the direction towards twisting roll 1 is performed in a direction transverse to its axis of rotation, namely in that the hood 6, supporting the said twisting roll 2, may be pivoted about the axis 7 relative to the housing 4 which supports the twisting roll 1. Pivoting of the hood 6 relative to the housing 4 is performed by means of a screw spindle 9 which engages into a screwthreaded part 10 of the housing 4 and thrusts on to a projection 11 on the hood 6, the said projection 11 being guided in a pocket 12 of the housing 4. One side of a spring 13 bears on the base of the pocket 12 and thrusts against the underside of the projection 11 so that the said projection is maintained in constant contact with the head of the screw spindle 9.

The bearing shaft 7 for the hood 6 is constructed as a plug-in shaft, the two ends of which are supported in separate eyes 14 of the housing 4. A bearing eye 15 of the hood 6 engages between the two eyes 14 of the housing 4, the plug-in shaft 7 traversing through the said bearing eye 15. The position of the plug-in shaft 7 is secured by means of a circumferential groove 16 into which a clamping screw 17 engages which is adjustably mounted on the bearing eye 15 of the hood 6.

Since the twisting roll 2 need only be adjusted in a direction transverse to its axis of rotation towards the twisting roll 1 in order to achieve the twisting effect in the twisting unit according to the invention, it is possible for the bearing housing 4 of the twisting roll 1 and v the bearing hood 6 of the twisting roll 2 to be constructed to a width which is only slightly greater than v the width of the twisting rolls. Accordingly, the roll passes may be provided in the working rolls of the roll housings at a slight distance from each other. The twisting units according to the invention permit the adoption of short roll lengths and therefore slight roll flexures which result in the production of relatively accurately dimensioned rolled stock in actual rolling operation The invention is of course not confined to twisting units of the construction described hereinbefore in which the adjustable twisting roll is pivotable about an axis 7 on the housing 4 which is offset in parallel relative to the rotational axis of the adjustable twisting roll in the direction towards the rolled strand (8) and is disposed upstream of the roll axis as seen in the running direction of the said rolled strand 8. Instead it is also possible for the hood 6, supporting the adjustable twisting roll 2, to be disposed outside the twisting roll circumference between two sliding checks of the housing 4 and to be adjusted towards the other twisting roll 1 by means of a screw spindle or a screw spindle disposed in a yoke of the housing.

I claim:

1. In a rolling mill, a single-strand twist guide for twisting a product length moving longitudinally along the mill pass line, said guidecomprising: a pair of laterally spaced twist rollers positioned on opposite sides of the mill pass line, one of said twist rollers being mounted on a base for rotation about an axis which is fixed in relation to-the mill pass line, the other of said twist rollers being carried on a movable hood member, the said twist rollers each having a shoulder and a cylindrical portion, the said shoulders and cylindrical portions being cooperatively arranged to engage and twist a product length passing therebetween, with the degree of twist imparted to the product length being proportional to the distance between said twist rollers; and adjustment means for adjusting the distance between said twist rollers, the said adjustment means being operative to displace said hood member in relation to said base.

2. The guide as claimed in claim 1 further characterized by said hood member being pivotally mounted on said base.

3. In a rolling mill, a single-strand twist guide for twisting a product length moving longitudinally along the mill pass line, said apparatus comprising: a pair of laterally spaced twist rollers positioned on opposite sides of the mill pass line, the said twist rollers each having a shoulder and a cylindrical portion, the said shoulders and cylindrical portions being cooperatively arranged to engage and twist a product length passing therebetween, with the degree of twist imparted to the product being proportional to the distance between said twist rollers; a fixed base carrying one of said'twist rollers; a hood member carrying the other of said twist rollers, the said hood member being pivotally mounted on said fixed base; and adjustment means for pivotally adjusting said hood member in relation to said base to vary the distance between said twist rollers. 

1. In a rolling mill, a single-strand twist guide for twisting a product length moving longitudinally along the mill pass line, said guide comprising: a pair of laterally spaced twist rollers positioned on opposite sides of the mill pass line, one of said twist rollers being mounted on a base for rotation about an axis which is fixed in relation to the mill pass line, the other of said twist rollers being carried on a movable hood member, the said twist rollers each having a shoulder and a cylindrical portion, the said shoulders and cylindrical portions being cooperatively arranged to engage and twist a product length passing therebetween, with the degree of twist imparted to the product length being proportional to the distance between said Twist rollers; and adjustment means for adjusting the distance between said twist rollers, the said adjustment means being operative to displace said hood member in relation to said base.
 2. The guide as claimed in claim 1 further characterized by said hood member being pivotally mounted on said base.
 3. In a rolling mill, a single-strand twist guide for twisting a product length moving longitudinally along the mill pass line, said apparatus comprising: a pair of laterally spaced twist rollers positioned on opposite sides of the mill pass line, the said twist rollers each having a shoulder and a cylindrical portion, the said shoulders and cylindrical portions being cooperatively arranged to engage and twist a product length passing therebetween, with the degree of twist imparted to the product being proportional to the distance between said twist rollers; a fixed base carrying one of said twist rollers; a hood member carrying the other of said twist rollers, the said hood member being pivotally mounted on said fixed base; and adjustment means for pivotally adjusting said hood member in relation to said base to vary the distance between said twist rollers. 